It was supposed to be a new Lord of the Rings, but it came out one of the biggest financial failures in recent decades. Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson took personal responsibility for Mortal Engines: War of the Cities as a screenwriter and producer.
The fantasy series had big goals and failed
Mortal Engines is based on the novel of the same name by Philip Reeve, which is the start of a quartet of novels. The story is set many years in the future and mixes science fiction and fantasy elements with a steampunk aesthetic. In this future Cities are mobilized with the help of engines and go to war with each other over rare resources. Historian Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving) and apprentice Tom (Robert Sheehan from The Umbrella Academy) try to hide from the cities. But only their acquaintance with the mysterious Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar) opens up a way out that could change the fate of humanity.
Universal
Mortal Engines: War of the Cities
There were some parallels to The Lord of the Rings in the production of Mortal Engines, including the screenwriting trio Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson adapting Reeve’s first novel. Filming took place again in New Zealand and Elrond actor Hugo Weaving was in front of the camera. In addition, there is a story spread over several books with motifs relating to industrialization and exploitation of nature. You might think that the Lord of the Rings successor was finished.
The science fantasy film probably made a loss of over $170 million
However, The War of the Cities failed at the box office. The film is estimated to cost $150 million collected a disastrous 15 million in the US and only totaled 83 million worldwide.
Universal
Mortal Engines: War of the Cities
With blockbusters of this size, due to advertising costs etc., the rule of thumb is that they have to collect around two and a half times their budget to break even. The industry website Deadline estimated the loss at $174 million, which is why Mortal Engines is considered the biggest flop of 2018 and one of the most costly failures ever.
The box office result itself says nothing about the quality. But neither critics nor audiences were particularly enthusiastic. Around 1,600 movie pilots rated the film in our database and the average rating of 5.8 points out of 10 speaks for itself.
This is how you can watch Mortal Engines
Mortal Engines: War of the Cities is on TV on NITRO today, November 29th from 8:15 p.m. There will be no repeat.
If you want to see the adventure of effects expert and directing debutant Christian Rivers now, you have to buy or rent the version from providers such as Amazon, Apple and Co.